"Main Navy" and "Munitions" Buildings

For more than five decades, the "Main Navy" and "Munitions"
Buildings dominated the scenery along Constitution Avenue west
of the Washington Monument, in the Northwest quadrant of Washington,
D.C. Erected in 1918 as "temporary" office buildings
to support the vastly expanded World War I military, they were
so spacious and useful that it required a 1970 Presidential command
to force their demolition.

Main Navy and Munitions were first occupied in August 1918,
a few months before the end of the "Great War". They
held some 14,000 Navy, Army and Civilian personnel when the fighting
ended. Among their inhabitants were the Secretary of the Navy,
the Chief of Naval Operations and their staffs. The Navy's high
command remained there until after World War II, when it was transferred
to the Pentagon. At the end of their long careers the two buildings
were home to most of the Navy's material systems commands, and
their abandonment helped to fill a good many new office buildings
in nearby Northern Virginia. Also in residence were the Navy Department
Library and much of the rest of what are now the Washington, D.C. elements of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

These two structures were very large and heavily-constructed,
if not especially beautiful. Their fronts stretched for nearly
a third of a mile down Constitution Avenue's south side, from
17th Street to 21st. A vehicle entryway at the foot of 19th Street
separated the buildings. Main Navy had a large pedestrian entrance
at the foot of 18th Street, while the Munitions Building's main
entrance was at the foot of 20th. Their street facades were three
stories high, with long east-west main corridors that branched
at regular intervals into north-south wings, eight for the Munitions
Building and nine for Main Navy. In the early 1940s, with the
needs of World War II looming, the latter had an architecturally
similar tenth wing constructed at its eastern end, while roughly-built
fourth floors were grafted to the tops of all the wings. Other
"wood and beaverboard" temporary buildings were erected
behind the two structures and between some of the wings.

Much local controversy accompanied Main Navy's and Munitions'
presence on what had been park land, and there was constant agitation
for their removal. But they outlasted nearly all of the City's
once-vast number of wartime "temporaries". Even when
President Nixon ordered their end, most of the occupants greeted
the news with a skepticism born of long experience. However, as
warm weather arrived in 1970, so did a regular procession of moving
vans, followed by wrecking crews. By year's end, the buildings
were largely reduced to rubble. Their site is now occupied by
Constitution Gardens park, with the Vietnam Memorial resting near
the western end of what had once been the Munitions Building.

This page features selected ground-level exterior views
of the Main Navy and Munitions buildings, plus miscellaneous views
related to those structures, and provides links to other images
of them.

For more images related to the Main Navy and Munitions Buildings,
see:

Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 86656

"Main Navy" Building, Washington, D.C.

Architect's perspective drawing, probably prepared in 1917 as
construction was being planned in response to the greatly expanded
need for office space during the World War I emergency.
Despite the designation of this structure as "temporary",
it remained in use until 1970.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 116KB; 1200 x 415
pixels

Photo #: 80-G-1024872

Navy Department Building ("Main Navy"), Washington,
D.C.

View of the building's North face seen from just west of 19th
Street, looking southeasterly from aross Constitution Avenue,
NW, in late 1918 or early 1919. The structure had been completed
and occupied a few months earlier.
The Washington Monument is in the center distance.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 520 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: NH 78203

"Munitions" Building, Washington, D.C.

View from across Constitution Avenue, N.W., from just west of
21st Street, looking southeasterly, circa 1919. The nearly identical
"Main Navy" building is just beyond, at the left.
These structures, completed in 1918 as World War I temporary
office buildings, were finally torn down in 1970-71.

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (MSC), 1973.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 465 pixels

Photo #: NH 2679

"Munitions" Building, Washington, D.C.

View of the building's north and eastern facades, seen from Constitution
Avenue, N.W., in 1918

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: 80-G-609132

Navy Department Building ("Main Navy"), Washington,
D.C.

View of the building's main entrance, at the foot of 18th Street,
seen looking south from across Constitution Avenue, NW, on 26
June 1947.
Dark automobile in the left center has U.S. Park Police markings.
Taxicab in the center belongs to the American Cab Company.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: 80-G-705798

General of the Armies John J. Pershing, U.S. Army.

Sailors with M1903 rifles march past the entrance of "Main
Navy" building, on Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,
D.C., while participating in General Pershing's funeral procession
to Arlington Cemetary, 19 July 1948.
General Pershing had died on 15 July.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 121KB; 595 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: 80-G-431936

Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, Chief of Naval Operations

Admiral Sherman's funeral procession passes "Main Navy"
building on its way down Constitution Avenue, Washington, D.C.,
en route to Arlington Cemetary, 27 July 1951.
Admiral Sherman had died at Naples, Italy, on 22 July.
Photographed by AFC Paul Begley.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 119KB; 740 x 615 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: 80-G-482803

Navy Department Building ("Main Navy"),
Washington, D.C.

View of the building's central entrance, on Constitution Avenue
NW, across from the foot of 18th Street. It looks south and slightly
westward. Photographed on 23 June 1953, a few days before the
end of the Korean War.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the
National Archives.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through
the National Archives photographic
reproduction system.

Photo #: NH 91993

"Main Navy" Building, Washington, D.C.

Pen & ink sketch by George Gray, 1964, depicting the building's
main entrance, at 18th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
When the building was demolished in 1970, the letters "NAVY
DEPARTMENT" over the entrance were removed for addition
to the Navy's historical collections.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 202KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Photo #: NH 936

USS President Lincoln (1917-1918)

Bronze plaque erected by the USS President Lincoln Club,
31 May 1921, in memory of those lost when the ship was sunk by
the German submarine U-90 on 31 May 1918.
When photographed (circa the later 1920s or early 1930s) it was
exhibited in the main lobby of the Main Navy Building in Washington,
D.C.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 120KB; 615 x 765 pixels

"Main Navy" Building is seen in the left background
of the following views of another subject:

Photo #: NH 105367

Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department

Personnel of the Bureau of Navigation pose in front of the Pan-American
Union Building, Washington, D.C., on 15 January 1919. Among those
present is a large number of Yeomen (F).
Panoramic photograph by Schutz, 613 14th St., Washington, D.C.
From a camera location on 17th Street, NW, this photograph sweeps
through approximately 180 degrees: looking south on the left,
west in the center and north on the right. The northeast corner
of the then-newly completed Main Navy Building is in the left
background. In the right background is the south face of the
Daughters of the American Revolution building.
In the front row, center, above the letter "A" in "Navy",
is Captain Harris Laning, Assistant to the Bureau Chief. A short
distance to the right, marked with a small "x", is
Yeoman First Class Edith M. Giovannoni, USNRF.

Bureau of Navigation personnel pose in front of the Pan-American
Union Building, Washington, D.C., 15 January 1919. Among those
present is a large number of Yeomen (F).
Panoramic photograph by Schutz, 613 14th St., Washington, D.C.
The northeast corner of the Main Navy Building is in the left
background.
In the front row, center, above the word "Dept.", is
Captain Harris Laning, Assistant to the Bureau Chief. A short
distance to the right, holding the arm of the lady in the light-colored
coat, is Yeoman First Class Edith M. Giovannoni, USNRF.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 121KB; 2000 x 350
pixels

For more images related to the Main Navy and Munitions Buildings,
see:

To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here
are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded
and used for any purpose.

Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines
citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center".
Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval
History and Heritage Command".